{Vance Everette's Birth Story}

I am so excited to finally introduce my son, Vance Everette RuBright, to the world!

This is his Birthday Story!!! 

So on Wednesday, March 2nd, I had my 40 Week OB appointment. That was my due date and I was so sad that my son hadn't come into the world yet but I knew God had a special day planned just for him! At my apt. the doctor checked me and I was 4 cm dilated and 75% thinned out. That was encouraging but I knew that I could be that for a few more days... She asked if I wanted my membranes stripped and I said no thank you! Also by this point I had already lost my "plug" twice! 

Friday we (Mom, Jon, Granny, and Ivy) all went to the movies to see Zootopia, which is such a cute movie!!! During the movie I kept having braxton hicks contractions that were pretty consistent. I had to get up once to go to the bathroom and I just knew my water was going to break but it didn't... 

Saturday I was still having contractions but they were getting harder and harder... I thought I was in labor for real and wanted to go get check as soon as I could so about 11pm Richard took me to the hospital to get checked out. We got to the room and we got hooked up to the monitor and they checked me and said I was still about 4 cm.... I was heartbroken! I am in tears from the contractions and the fact that I was once again going home without a baby! The told me to give it two hours and come back in around 2AM cause they thought I would be ready by then! 

Sunday about 2:30am we get back to the hospital. I was finally at 6 cm and I was in pain! This time around labor was a lot more painful for whatever reason... I made it to 8cm with Ivy and only 6cm with Vance. Anyways, around 4:40 I got the happy juice. I was then at 9cm and almost fully thinned out! What was so bad were the contractions I kept having felt like they were in my butt area! It was awful and painful! 

The epidural was a failure.... I was only slightly numb on the left side! I could still move my legs and everything! I was so scared at that point because I knew with Ivy I tore down there and I would most likely tear with this baby too and I did NOT want to feel that! So I ask if there was anything else I could get for pain... They ended up giving me two different drugs to help numb the pain, after the "drug guy" told me he forgot to tell me about the button to push for more morphine..... UGH! 

  

Around 6:30 I tried pushing for the first time (she said she could see his head!) but I was so numb at that point I couldn't push like I needed to... So I tried to rest instead.

At 7 I was ready to start pushing! The lady that helped the whole time was awesome! She told me by 7:30 we should have a baby! I was in a lot of pain by this time and was not wanting to push but if I wanted to see my baby soon I had to start! So they put up the squat bar thing and put a sheet twisted around the bar and told me to pull on the sheet and push! So I pushed and pushed and was in so much pain! I kept running out of breath from pushing so much. Then the lady put the mirror at my feet so I could see baby's head and where I needed to push. 

That mirror helped me a ton actually. I didn't do that with Ivy. After over thirty minutes of pushing, Vance was born at 7:34 am!!! 

He was perfect!!!! He weighed 9 pounds and 1 ounce and was 20.5 inches long! He was a pound more than Ivy and the same length! 

AND he looks like his MAMA!!!! :) 

Happy Birthday Vance Everette!

Mama loves her baby boy!

Happy to be home!

Ivy is adjusting to being a big sister!

He's such a handsome little fella!

She loves him!! 

Happy One Week Van!!!

The first week has gone by so fast already!!! :( We had to say good bye to everyone and that is always hard to do but even harder now that Vance is actually here now! I feel so grateful for the time I got to spend with my family and Richard's daddy. We loved having them all here and can't wait to see them again soon! :)

{Letter to My Son}

My sweet baby boy,

You were due to come into this world on March 2, 2016. Today is the 5th.... I am trying my hardest to be patient but gosh it's hard when I have been waiting for what seems like forever for you to arrive! This whole pregnancy has been amazing! I have loved just about every single minute of it (except the nighttime heartburn flare-ups!). I have loved feeling you move around and kicking like a ninja. I have loved seeing you move around on the screen at my doctor appointments. I have loved getting to know you from the inside and now I am super ready to get to know you on the outside!! We haven't announced your name to the media world yet but you do have a really awesome name! I love talking to you and using your name. It's a rare name that you don't hear often, just like your sister's. Speaking of Ivy, she is going to love you so much! I can see her holding you and trying to help Mama feed you a bottle. She will be my little helper for sure. Granny, Papa, Grams, and Jon have all been here for over a week now waiting on your arrival. Grams and Uncle Jon are going to leave in the morning and come back later in the week IF you don't come sometime tonight.. We are all trying to wait as patiently as we can for you! We are just so excited to meet you baby boy! We love you to the moon and back!!! :)

Love Always,

Mama

{Letter to Ivy}

My sweet Ivy,

My oh my how time has flown by these last two years. I cannot believe I have a two year old now. You are the most intelligent, affectionate, and strong willed little toddler I have ever met! You are learning new things every single day and I am amazed at how fast you pick up things. Just like the other day you where playing with your new learning pad your Papa Ru gave you and you were on a game where you make smoothies. There's a part on the game where you have to tilt the pad to the left to pour in the ice cubes. I had to show you once and you had it down pat! You're a very fast learner. And you never forget anything!

                                                        

                                


This past Friday was your birthday and we did what we did last year and celebrated Thanksgiving with both sides of our family and then afterwards we had a birthday party for you. You didn't touch your little smash cake Grams made you but you demolished a cupcake! You got so many fun toys to play with but I believe your favorite present was the rocking horse Papa & Granny Cannon made for you!

Ivy Victoria you are my sunshine! Whenever I am feeling gloomy I can just look at you and my whole day is made. You make life so much brighter and sweeter. Even though sometimes you make me wanna pull my hair out (I still blame either lack of sleep or teething... ) I still think you are the most amazing gift God has ever given me.

I can't wait to see you as a big sister in a few short months. I know you are going to love on your brother all the time and wanna help Mama any chance you get. I am so excited to see your reaction to our new addition.

I love you Booger!!!! You are my everything!!!

Mama

{Dear Little Mister}

Hey Little Mister!

This is my very first letter to you and I am super excited to finally be writing you! We will be 22 weeks along this pregnancy tomorrow and that means one more week closer to meeting you. Your Daddy, Ivy, and I are so ready!!! I have already seen you about 4 or 5 times and you are growing so much so fast! I am amazed at the whole pregnancy process all over again! The way God created the woman's body and her ability to grow a baby is just perfect to me!! Right now I am laying on the couch with your sister asleep beside me and I am trying to imagine what my life is going to be like in about four months with you added to our family. It might be chaos at first but I know once we establish a good routine, we will be good to go! I am so excited about having you, SON! When we went to see what we were having a few weeks ago, I was so hoping and praying for a little boy and I know your Daddy was too. When we saw that you were indeed a little mister, your Dad didn't even believe it at first but there was no denying what we saw on the screen...If you know what I mean! :) I still can't believe God choose me to be your Mama! I am so blessed to have one of each! I do hope that you and Ivy have a good relationship like I have with my little brothers. We may have fought a lot when we were younger but now that we are older, we are like best friends! I know Ivy is going to love having you around! She loves babies and is always kissing my round belly and saying "baby" and loving on you. She treats her babydoll with such love and makes sure that they are ok. I know she will be that loving towards you as well. Our entire family is excited to have you along! Just 4 more months and I can hold you in my arms!! I love you so much already!

Love,

Your Mama

HUGE Announcement!!!

This is a BIG announcement for our family and a long overdue one at that... But we are expecting our second bundle of JOY around the beginning of March 2016!!!  

This is me at around 17 and a half weeks! 

And to make things even more EXCITING..... (if that's possible, right??) We are expecting a baby BOY!!!!

We are more than thrilled that we are adding a BOY to the family!! I didn't care what we were having as long as he/she was healthy, but we were really hoping it was going to be a boy since this might be our last time having a baby. I don't believe Ivy is old enough yet to really understand what is coming in the near future but I do know that she loves kissing my belly and she loves babies!! I know she will be excited when her little brother comes! 

Here is me and baby boy at about 18 Weeks! 

You can't deny that one!!! HA! He wasn't shy that's for sure!!! 

Just for fun, here is our announcement to the world about Ivy Ru!

Wow that seems like a long time ago! 

Anyways, we are super excited to be telling the world this awesome news! Our family just keeps growing and growing and I love it! The Lord is GOOD!!!! God bless! 

XO Meagan

P.S. I hope to start blogging more often again... I have slacked A LOT lately but wanna get back into again! So keep coming back for updates of Baby Ru #2!!! 

{Dear Ivy}

My sweet Ivy,

I haven't made the time to write to you in a while. I am sorry I have been too busy. Mainly chasing you around the house and playing with your Little People and watching TinkerBell with you. Our days at home are exhausting, hilarious, enjoyable, and rewarding. I am blessed to have the ability to be a mom who gets to stay home all day everyday with her little girl. I couldn't imagine having to drop you off at someones house or daycare and go to work. I would be so devastated. I love spending all my time with you Booger!

We don't have to do much to have fun! We got you a toddler swimming pool a few weeks ago and you absolutely love playing in the water! It's super fun to watch you get more and more brave each day. You put one ear in the water at a time. Then you lower your face into the water to blow and make bubbles. BUBBLES are your favorite! Sometimes we go to the park and let you slide and swing. It's been a little too hot to do much outside. I took you to MegaPlay the other day and you loved the ball pit more than anything. Painting has become a very messy but fun project for us to do. You love mixing the colors together! You love playing with E. Ellie will get one of her toys and get you to chase her around the house. Y'all are best friends.

You have learned how to do some new things here lately. You are a very good climber.  Unfortunately. You are definitely right handed. You have went poopy in your potty once! You can almost put your shoes on by yourself. You think anything in a cup is either tea or coffee. You LOVE coffeeeee.  Just like your Mama.

It amazes me how much you have grown the past few months. You are such a smart girl, Ivy. You surprise me everyday with the little bits of knowledge you pick up. I watch you sometimes when you are in deep thought or you're concentrating really hard on something. Your facial expressions crack me up! You are a character.

The last two weeks we have been weaning you from breastfeeding AND crib training you. Both have been difficult but you have done so well!!! We are down to only one nursing sesh right before I put you in your crib. You take naps in your crib as well. Daddy or I have to be right next to you holding your hand before you fall asleep. We have even had to adjust not having you to cuddle up to at night. It's a sad transition for all of us I believe. You still wake up around 1-3AM and I go and get you out of the crib and bring you into own bed most days. You curl up right next to me and makes my heart smile! I love waking up to your big green eyes and sweet smile!

Ivy you are my everything. I can't imagine my life without you. You are one of God's greatest blessings to me. He created you so perfectly. So smart. So sweet. You're perfect. Even on our rough days you are perfect to me. (Usually I just blame it on teething.) I hate that you are getting so independent now. You rely on me less and less, but you are still a Mama's girl.

The last few days you have been extra clingy (due to teething...I think...) and at times I just get annoyed by it but most of the time I soak it up because I know it won't last long. There will come a time when you won't want to be held and cuddled... BUT until then I will LOVE on you every second I can! You will always be my little girl.

Ivy I love you with all of my heart.

XO

Mama

{Ivy's 18 Month's Old!}

She is almost 19 months now but you get the gist!

My Ivy Ru is a character.

She is a very intelligent little girl. Too smart for her own good most days.

Her favorites things lately....

Bubbles in her bath
Taco soup
Pool & the beach or any body of water
Ice cream cones
Spiders......bugs in general.....
Taking E (Ellie) outside to potty
Tinker Bell
Being read to
Dancing to music
Climbing EVERYTHING

Her new words!

Cow
Please
Coffee
Bath
Outside
Cracker (sounds more like crack.... )
Apple is abble to her...
Poop

Ivy has been learning so many new things the past few months. I watch her do things that I never really taught her but she has seen me do it. For instance...

Anytime we go to Target or the Commissary we always wipe down the shopping cart with a lysol wipe. Well Ivy has a toy shopping cart that she just LOVES! Well the other day (or a few weeks ago..) she went and got a wipe out of the box and headed for her cart. She wiped her cart down before she went "shopping" and this was so amazing to Richard and I! She watches us even when we don't think she is! Kind of scary huh!?

Ivy loves to help me take the clothes out of the washing machine and put them into the dryer. She loves rewarding E with a treat if she went potty outside. She loves helping me cook. She loves watching her daddy mow the yard. She loves finger painting. She is very artistic like her Mama! I could go on and on and on about Ivy Ru!

The last week we have been putting her in her crib for nap time and she has been doing AWESOME with this transition! She normally nurses to sleep so this is a HUGE change for her. Along with "crib training" I am also weaning her.... This is a very hard thing for both Ivy and myself. Ivy has slept beside me and has nursed to sleep since we brought her home from the birthing center. She has slept like a champ because of it and so have I! And waking up to her smiling face every single morning has been such a blessing to me and it's something that I am going to miss sooooooo much!

The crib training isn't as hard as the weaning for me. My milk supply has always been very abundant and now that I am not nursing her to sleep anymore my milk comes in without her needing it and then I am full of milk and miserable! I get so full my boobs are hard as rocks and have knots in them from being engorged. So I have done LOTS of research and asked my mama friends and they all suggested peppermint and cabbage leaves. Well I have had one cup of tea so far and hated it but I drank it anyway. And yesterday I put cabbage leaves into my sports bra and it felt awesome! I didn't even feel engorged until it was time to feed Ivy right before I put her in her crib and my milk came in.

This week will probably be when I take away that last feeding before we put her to bed. Last night when I was nursing her I looked at her and almost started crying because she loves nursing so much. It's a bond that only mother and child get to experience. It's something that only Ivy and I share. Nobody else has the kind of bond that we share. Nursing has been such an amazing experience for us both.

I have nursed almost 19 months and I can say I love it 99% of the time. The 1% was the first few days when my supply wasn't in yet and she nursed sooooo often and my boobs were just raw. ((TMI?)) Anyways I am sad that this chapter is coming to an end but I am looking forward to the memories ahead!

Now for the fun part of pictures of Ivy the last few weeks! :) ENJOY!

XO Meagan